


Cut it Out

by Pawprinter



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Bad Flirting, Band Shenanigans, Canon Compliant, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Haircuts, Humor, Love Confessions, Minor Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Mistakes Are Made, Mutual Pining, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:19:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pawprinter/pseuds/Pawprinter
Summary: Julie helps give the guys haircuts. She might be a little too honest when it comes to Luke.-“You still look good! Great, actually. You look great. I mean, you don’t look great. Your hair does. I swear, I was talking about your hair. Not that you don’t look cute. I’m not saying that because that would be rude, you know? I’m just objectively saying that your hair works for you. You look as good as ever!”
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 47
Kudos: 372
Collections: JATP Appreciation Week





	Cut it Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fallingthroughspacex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallingthroughspacex/gifts), [lostinthesounds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostinthesounds/gifts).



> This fic is written for Julie and the Phantoms Appreciation Week [on Tumblr](https://jatp-week.tumblr.com)! This is for day 7, which gives the prompt of writing a fic set in canon-verse. I am VERY late with this fic considering the week ended on November 8th, but we're just going to ignore that.
> 
> Enjoy!

Julie walked into a scene of chaos.

Granted, that wasn’t entirely unusual for the guys. Wherever they went, chaos seemed to follow, but this...

_ This. _

“Hey!” she called, dropping her backpack to the floor and pointing in what she hoped was a threatening way. “Reggie, no running with scissors!”

“Julie!” Alex yelped, poofing away from his perch on top of the piano to hide behind her. “Reggie’s threatening to murder me —  _ again!  _ I can’t die again, I just learned how to teleport without losing my socks and—”

“I’m not going to murder you,” Reggie promised, taking a few steps towards their direction, the pair of scissors held precariously in his hands. “Not  _ really.  _ Just  _ a little bit.” _

Luke stuck his head over the balcony and frowned. “If either of you come near me with those things, I will  _ not  _ pull my punches, okay? Oh, hi, Julie.”

Despite the chaos raging around them, her heart  _ still  _ decided to skip a beat from the way he grinned at her. It was ridiculous and she hated it. She hated Luke, and his pretty eyes, and his nice smile, and—

_ Play it cool!!! _

“Yeah, hi.” Her gaze bounced between the three ghosts around her. She attempted to calm her heart while taking in the scene. “Anyone care to fill me in? What’s happening here?”

“Alex butchered my hair. He’s trying to sabotage my love life.”

“The use of the word ‘sabotage’ means there’s something there to begin with and, I hate to say it, man, but you’re a little short in the love department.”

Luke stuck his head back out. “Ha. He said short. Kinda like your hair.”

Reggie turned towards the stairs, the pair of scissors raised. Luke disappeared again.

Before more threats could be made with the pair of scissors, Julie stepped in. “Woah, okay, let’s all just slow down. I still don’t understand what’s happening here.”

Reggie turned to her, pouting. “Alex gave me a bad haircut.”

Now that he was facing her and not trying to re-murder any of his bandmates, she got a clear look at the said haircut. It was…  _ not great,  _ she would give him that. It was taken too short on the left side, making odd pieces stick up at strange angles, and the right side was patchy at best.

“You cut Reggie’s hair?” Julie clarified, glancing back at him. He nodded. “Was this done out of revenge or…?”

Luke poofed down to stand beside Reggie and he glanced at the scissors warily. “Reg and I wanted to get a few inches off the top, you know?” She had to admit, their hair  _ was  _ getting pretty long; Luke’s hair was beginning to curl around his ears.  _ God,  _ that was  _ another  _ thing she hated about him — his ridiculously good hair. “Alex is growing his out for the grain or whatever.”

“For the gram, Luke. It’s  _ ‘for the gram.’” _

“Yeah, whatever. He thinks he looks good with long hair, so.” He took the scissors from Reggie slowly and sent a grin in Alex’s direction. “I wonder if it has anything to do with another ghost we know? Another ghost with long hair, hm?”

Alex froze. 

A beat passed.

Finally, he spoke. “That’s not the point. This has nothing to do with Willie.”

“Sure it doesn’t. Point is, Alex cut Reggie’s hair, and well…” The group turned to examine the haircut in question. “That happened.”

Alex let out an exasperated sound. “Look, man, it’s not that bad!”

Reggie scowled. “It’s not even straight!”

“Yeah, well, you did ask  _ me  _ to cut it. I haven’t done anything  _ straight _ in my life.” He elbowed Julie, looking very pleased with himself. “Get it?? It’s a pun.”

“I’m miserable and you’re making puns?” Despite his words, Reggie looked amused. “Wow. I see how it is. This haircut was a mistake.”

“We all make mistakes,” Julie said, managing to remain completely deadpan. “They’re just stepping stones. They take us where we want to go. Your hair is never straight.  _ No.” _

Luke tried and failed to hide his laugh behind a cough. Alex looked like he died a little on the inside from her joke. 

“The amount of admiration I have for you right now,” Luke said wistfully. His expression was soft and his smile sincere. “Amazing use of direct quotes from an incredible band. Or, should I say, a  _ phantom-tastic  _ band. I hear they’re a group of good looking holograms and one lovely lifer — or, uh…  _ lead singer.  _ I don’t know what a lifer is.” Luke winked. “I heard their bassist had an unfortunate incident involving scissors and hair though.”

Reggie let out a groan. “I hate you.” He tugged on what remained of his hair. “I think I need to shave it off. Right? Shave it to save it?”

“No,” Julie jumped in immediately. She could see where this conversation was going and was thankful that she showed up when she did. If it was a minute or two later, she might’ve walked in on a bald Reggie, which was a terrifying image. “Don’t shave your head. That’ll just make this worse.”

_ “Worse?”  _ Reggie echoed, sounding distressed. “I don’t know what’s going on all of the time, but that sounds like you’re saying my hair is bad to begin with.” When she didn’t correct him, he pouted. “Julie.”

“I mean… it’ll grow out.”

He let out a sound and flopped dramatically to the couch. “I wanted to go to a hairstylist,” he complained, his voice muffled by the cushion, “but nooooo apparently being invisible makes it impossible to get it professionally cut. And Alex over here can’t even hold a pair of scissors right—”

“There is no  _ right  _ way to hold a pair of scissors! I hold them and they cut — boom, easy — done.”

“Yeah. Done.” Reggie gestured to his head. “You really did it this time.”

Julie and Luke locked eyes from across the room. She could read him like an open book — it was inevitable when they bore the deepest parts of their souls to each other while writing music. She could tell that he was amused by their banter and  _ dying  _ to get in on it.

_ Her boys,  _ she thought affectionately. Even when they were bickering about bad haircuts, they all still loved each other, and they all loved trying to poke fun at each other.

“It’s out of your eyes,” Alex defended.  _ “Technically, _ that’s all you asked for.”

Luke sent her an exhilarated look before turning to the conversation. “I mean, he has a point.”

Reggie rounded on him. “Oh, really? You want him to cut your hair? Because, if I remember correctly, you’re next in line, man. You were the one to beg Alex to pick up the pair of scissors. ‘It’ll be fine,’ you said, ‘it’s just hair,’ you said.  _ Well look at me now!” _

“Uh. No thanks?”

“Yeah. That’s right. ‘No thanks.’ Because you still have hair to save.” He walked towards the drum set, where the remainder of his deceased hair lay. His expression as he stared at the pile was priceless. “Look at it. It’s so sad. Just… in pieces… no longer attached to my head… all alone on the floor.”

“Do you want me to sing to it?” Luke offered. “I have a few really sad songs that I can pull out and—”

“No.”

“Fine. Just because I love you, I’ll write a completely  _ brand new  _ song.”

“No.”

“It’s a little farewell party for your luscious locks. It’ll be super heartfelt, I promise.”

Reggie gave him a tired look. “I hate you.”

“Love you too.” He pressed a wet kiss onto his cheek and dashed away, laughing wildly.

Alex stuffed his hands in his pockets and cautiously approached Reggie. “Listen, man, I’m sorry about the hair. I  _ thought  _ I was cutting it straight, and then my fingers slipped, and then I wanted to  _ try _ and make it even, and then—”

“You’re lucky it was you and not Luke. You’re like… the human embodiment of sunshine.” Reggie’s expression softened. “I couldn’t hate you. For long, anyway. And, I mean… it could be worse, right? You could’ve  _ shaved  _ the top off. Julie’s right; bald Reggie wouldn’t be a good look.”

“Admit it, Reg, you  _ like  _ the new hair.”

“Okay, now you’re going too far. It’s hideous, but I’ll make it work.” He brushed the lint from his shoulders and grinned cockily. “I  _ always  _ pull it off. How could I not with a face like this?”

Alex deadpanned. “Very easily.”

“You know what—”

Julie left Reggie and Alex to work it out, feeling confident there wouldn’t be a ghostly murder now that the scissors were taken out of the equation. 

She found Luke sitting on the piano bench with his back towards the keys, looking into the mirror hanging on the bathroom door. From what she could tell between the mess of butterfly clips and pins, he was trying his best to section and clip his hair.

Seeing him so concentrated made her heart warm. 

Julie had it bad. All it took was for Luke to just  _ sit there,  _ and it felt like she was melting.

She cleared her throat. “Having trouble?”

“Apparently.” She watched him struggle for a beat longer. “I watched a video off the YouTubes. The guy said to wet it and section before you cut otherwise you have no hope.” His nose scrunched and his neck bent at an angle that couldn’t have been healthy. “Uh. I just… is this straight?”

Julie narrowed her eyes and studied the section Luke was holding. “Not really, but how bad could it be?”

“Take it from me,” Reggie called, “bad. It can be  _ very  _ bad.”

Alex popped up behind him. “Hey, I can help—”

“No. And I say that with the most love in my heart that I can muster,” Luke said, “but no.”

“You’re going to need help reaching the back though,” he pointed out.  _ “And  _ I have  _ experience  _ now so—”

“You’re not getting anywhere near my hair with anything sharp, okay? Got it?” When Alex didn’t respond, Luke’s expression sharpened. “I need a head nod here.”

“Fine,” Alex grumbled. “You’re no fun.” With that, he went back to harassing Reggie. 

Satisfied, Luke and Julie returned to studying the section of hair closer.

“It can’t be that hard, right?” Their eyes locked in the mirror. He looked desperate. “Give me some hope here, Molina. I can do this, right?”

“Totally,” she assured him even though she didn’t quite believe it herself. “Besides, you wear hats sometimes. If things go really wrong, you can just hide under those.” Luke looked more worried. “Not that you’ll mess up. You can do this.”

“You’re making me nervous here.”

Her gaze swept over his hands in his hair and she winced. “The way you’re holding those scissors makes  _ me  _ nervous. What are you trying to do, have shorter hair than Reggie?”

Luke laughed and pulled the scissors away from his scalp. “First of all, I don’t think that’s possible. Have you  _ seen  _ the length on him? There is none. Secondly, that’s a terrifying image. You know what you are, Julie? You’re an  _ artist  _ — except the painting is imaginary and it’s horrifying. If I could sleep, I’d be having nightmares about it.”

She watched his expression in the mirror, noting how it changed as seconds passed. When realization dawned on his features, her heart skipped a beat and her stomach filled with butterflies.

Their eyes locked in the mirror again.

“Julie,” he said, and she decided she’d never get tired of hearing him say her name. “You know how to hold scissors, right?”

_ Oh no. _

The giddiness she felt moments before vanished. She knew what was coming and tried to think of any excuse, but none came to mind. And, there he was, sitting on the piano bench, his eyes locked on hers,  _ waiting for an answer— _

She panicked.

“I mean, yeah, but—”

Luke never let her finish. 

“Here.” He handed the pair off to her, which she refused to grab at first. He grinned and inched them closer to her. “I’m serious. Just take them and chop. It couldn’t be worse than Reg.”

“I don’t want to be responsible for this. Unlike Reggie, I will actually die if I’m chased with scissors.”

“On the plus side, then you’d be a full official member of Sunset Curve,” Reggie chimed in. “You’ll get ghost status.”

“I’m trying to prolong that as much as possible.” Julie cautiously took the scissors from Luke. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could do it, but he was looking at her with so much trust that it made her nervous. She didn’t want to lose that trust. She didn’t want to let him down. “Are you sure? You trust me to do this?”

“I trust you with this more than these two clowns.”

Two mumbles of indignation came from the crowd.

“It’ll be fine. Just… don’t cut too short. You can’t tape back on what’s already cut off.” He gestured to the pile on the floor by the drums. “Exhibit A. Let’s not make an exhibit B.” His expression softened. He caught her hand that held the scissors and squeezed. “I believe in you, Julie. You got this.”

That was enough to push her on.

As Julie took the scissors and inched closer to him, she decided that she could probably do anything if she had Luke at her side, singing encouragements to her. With his trust placed in her, she felt as though she could do  _ anything. _

It was a great feeling.

_ A feeling that lasted for a very brief moment. _

Ignoring the way her body buzzed around him was easier than she thought it was going to be despite their proximity, and his gaze on the side of her face, and his hair between her fingers. Maybe she got enough practice when they were hunched together over the piano composing songs, or maybe it was because she was still incredibly nervous — it didn’t matter.

The first cut went well. 

He gave her a double thumbs up in the mirror. “See! It already looks so good.”

Alex tried poorly to hide his laugh under a cough.

Luke, in an attempt to ignore Alex, turned to Reggie and snorted. “Hey, isn’t it funny that your hair is now just as dead as we are? Julie, what’s that meme? The one with the emoticon with the shaking hands?”

“They’re called emojis.”

“Yeah, same thing. The emojis of the shaking hand. You have the bird app, right, because you need to Twitter this one. ‘Sunset Curve’ shaking hands emoji ‘Reggie’s hair’ and then underneath that put dead. It’s hilarious. Right? It’s so funny—”

“No.”

Julie lifted the scissors threateningly. “One more bad joke out of any of you and I’m taking the hair.” Luke lifted his hands in surrender and pretended to lock his lips together. Their expressions melted into grins in the mirror. “Alright,” she said after a beat, “we’re doing this.”

“We’re doing this,” he confirmed.

She blew out a long breath and went for the second cut.

Then a third.

A fourth.

_ Her downfall was getting too comfortable. _

It was the fifth cut — one right above his ear — where it all went wrong. She changed the position of the scissors the  _ tiniest  _ fraction, but that was enough.

She watched as the chunk of hair fluttered to the ground.

_ Oh no. _

Julie immediately put space between her and Luke, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted. Luke’s shoulders stiffened and his hand flew to feel the side of his head. She kept her eyes firmly locked on his hair; she was too nervous to even  _ think  _ of attempting to read his expression.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. When he turned to face her, his jaw was dropped and eyes wide. She cringed. “Okay, I will admit, that was bad, but you still look good! Great, actually.  _ You look great.”  _ Her thoughts caught up with her mouth. Suddenly, that dark room that Alex always talked about was looking  _ very  _ appealing. She wanted to disappear into the floor. Her mouth clamped shut and her cheeks flushed. “I mean,  _ you  _ don’t look great. Your hair does. Even though I messed up a bit above the ear.”

“Julie—”

“I swear, I was talking about your hair,” she lied, cutting him off before he could finish speaking. “Not that you  _ don’t  _ look cute. Because you do. Or… your hair does. Your hair looks cute. The hair I cut. The hair that I messed up. It’s cute.” Julie felt like she was talking herself into a very deep hole. Stop talking!!  _ Stop talking!!!  _ “It’s fine, Luke, you’re fine. Your hair is fine. You’re  _ so  _ fine. Not in like… appearance way. Your personality is fine. It’s great! You have a great personality.”

“Julie—”

“I’m not saying you’re cute, but I’m not saying you’re  _ not  _ cute, you know? Because that would be rude. I’m just objectively saying that your hair, even cut at that angle, works for you. You look as good as ever!”

Luke’s expression was somewhere between amusement and something much harder to read.

She cringed as she ran her words back.  _ Oh, she did it now.  _ How was she going to talk herself out of this one?

Not knowing what to say to make this better, she elected to stay silent and hope for the best.

A horrible beat of silence passed.

“Julie.”

“Hm?”

“You good?”

She let out a breathless laugh and crossed her arms, doing everything in her power to play it cool. “Yeah, great.  _ So  _ great.”

As if she didn’t already want to go live out the rest of the week under her bed, Luke leaned forward, his grin playful and  _ beautiful,  _ and—

“So,” he said teasingly, “you think I’m cute?” 

Suddenly, her mind was blank.

Of course, her words would fail her at this exact moment. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out — maybe that was a good thing, considering she had half a mind to cut her losses and admit to finding him cute.

Her saving grace came in the form of a ghost.

Reggie let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Like  _ you  _ don’t think Julie is cute,” he pointed out. Her eyes snapped to his. Her breath caught in her chest. “It’s always  _ Julie this, Julie that  _ and  _ we get it,  _ you know? You’re head over heels for her—” He was cut off when Alex whacked him in the face with a pillow. “What was  _ that  _ for?”

“You know what, I’m  _ glad  _ I messed up your hair. You deserve it after that—”

“I  _ deserve  _ it?!”

“Yes!”

“For what, it’s the  _ truth—” _

“You don’t just walk around telling people that!”

“But  _ everyone knows—” _

They continued to go back and forth, yet Julie couldn’t bring herself to care. She was staring at Luke with wide eyes, her cheeks burning, her chest constricting. He looked at her as he always did and she was  _ amazed  _ that he hadn’t poofed away from seeing just how much of a  _ disaster  _ she was.

Luke was the one to break the silence. “You okay? You look… shocked?”

“What? Who? Me? Shocked?” The words coming from her mouth were fragmented at best. She still felt several steps behind the conversation because  _ how could she not?  _ “No. I’m fine.”

“You good?” he asked again. There was a crease between his brows and the slightest downward pull of his lips — a stark contrast to the easy smiles and light banter from earlier. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

She let out a weak laugh at his joke.

“I mean… yeah. I’m good. The guys are just joking around.” She swallowed thickly. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. “Right? It’s all just jokes?”

_ Except, it didn’t feel like a joke. _

Not with her heart racing. Not with the way Luke was looking at her. Not with the heaviness on her shoulders and the hope in her chest.

_ Stop,  _ she warned herself.  _ Stop, stop, stop— _

“Julie…” he breathed. “I thought you knew?”

Shock stole her words.

She floundered. 

“Huh? What?”

Luke let out a breathless laugh. “It’s not like I’ve  _ tried  _ to hide it, so I just  _ assumed  _ you knew and didn’t feel the same way, which was fine, but—”

Her thoughts were racing. The conclusions that came to mind made her feel hope and made her feel  _ alive  _ and it was  _ horrible  _ because it couldn’t be true, right? It couldn’t be—

“I don’t understand,” she finally said. 

Why was her mouth so dry? 

She could barely speak.

Could barely breathe.

Could barely  _ think. _

The corners of Luke’s mouth quirked up. “You’re cute.” Once again, she was at a complete loss of words.  _ “Of course  _ I think you’re cute. I mean…  _ you’re beautiful.”  _ The  _ look  _ on Luke’s face caused her breath to catch in her throat. His smile was so tender, his eyes bright, his expression so  _ soft.  _ “Doesn’t matter if you’re dressed up for one of our shows or if you’re wearing your bear slippers, Jules, you’re  _ beautiful.  _ You’re always beautiful.”

“Oh.”

It was the only thing she could manage to say through the pure  _ shock  _ running through her body.

His grin made her heart stop. “But this has been known—”

“It’s ‘been knew,’” Alex corrected from behind her. 

“Whatever. Me thinking you’re beautiful is something that’s been knew—”

“That’s not how—”

Luke peered around Julie’s shoulder and sent Alex an exasperated look. “Not  _ now,  _ Alex. Jeez.” Their gazes met again. His expression softened. “It’s old news. Older than the nineties. Older than  _ drummers,  _ actually, because we all know drumming is so nineties—”

_ “Can you stop making that joke? _ Get a new one, Patterson!”

“—but,” Luke continued, ignoring Alex again, “what you said so elegantly; now  _ that’s  _ news.” He raised his eyebrows and inched forward. “You think I’m cute?”

With her heart racing and feeling more playful than ever, she spoke. “With your hair sticking up like that? I don’t know…” Julie closed the distance between them and attempted to flatten the hair sticking up on the side of his head — the hair that she might’ve mangled in her attempt to give him a haircut. “Good thing you have a pretty face, I guess. I’m pretty sure you’d look cute with any hair. You might even look cute  _ bald.” _

Luke let out a sound and locked eyes with her in the mirror. He looked partway between shocked and amused. 

“Julie Molina,” he mockingly gasped, “are you  _ flirting  _ with me?”

She rested her chin on top of his head and tried to keep her expression impassive. It was nearly impossible with the way her heart was racing and her stomach flipping.

“That’s what you do when you see a cute boy, right? You flirt?”

“So you  _ do  _ think that I’m cute? You’re flirting with me, right? Because you think I’m cute? Because—”

“Oh my god,” Reggie groaned, breaking their tender moment. “Someone tell her that he’s been flirting with her for  _ weeks. Please. I’m so tired of this.” _

A beat passed.

They locked eyes in the mirror.

“I mean, he’s not wrong.” Luke’s expression flickered. His eyes never left hers. “I’m kinda  _ really  _ into you.”

Suddenly, it didn’t matter that Reggie and Alex were standing only a few feet away, watching them with wide and eager smiles. It didn’t matter that Luke’s hair was most definitely as unsalvageable as Reggie’s. It didn’t matter that her heart had dropped right to her feet and her palms were sweating. 

All that mattered was them in that moment.

_ It was just them. _

An easiness rose up in Julie, replacing the storm that had been raging inside only moments before. His words had quieted all the doubt and the panic and the avoidance.

_ The words that followed were just so easy, so natural. _

“I like you, too, Luke.”

They shared a soft smile. Her whole body felt warm and alive in the best way possible, a way that made her feel like  _ this was right  _ and  _ she was home.  _

Luke’s hand found her own. The touch they shared were just as electric as their first one — filled with emotions that words failed expresses, filled with a sweetness and a softness—

_ Of course, the tender moment was broken by their audience. _

“Finally,” Reggie groaned. “It’s been torture watching you two dance around this. And Luke dancing? It’s not great. Let’s leave that to Alex.”

“Hey!”

While Luke was protesting the comments against his dancing, Julie was much more focused on the rest of Reggie’s statement. 

“Okay, we weren’t  _ that  _ bad,” she insisted. “You’re being dramatic, Reg—”

“No,” Alex said solemnly, “you two were that bad. I hate to say it but  _ yikes.” _

“If I would’ve known that all it took was for me to get a bad haircut for you two to cut it out and admit the obvious, I would’ve done this  _ ages  _ ago,” Reggie admitted. “We even had a running bet on it because—  _ ow!  _ What was that for, Alex!?”

_ “They weren’t supposed to know about the bet, you dork—” _

Julie couldn’t bring herself to be mad about any of it, not when she was holding Luke’s hand, not when she was surrounded by her family, not when she was this happy.

She glanced away from Alex and Reggie, who were now running around the garage again, and met Luke’s gaze. His smile made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flip. Maybe she was biased, but his grin was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.

“Let them get some energy out of their systems,” Luke said. His hand squeezed hers. “I think we have a lot to talk about.”

_ Yes, _ Julie decided. _ She was very happy. _

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I briefly reference the lyrics to "Edge of Great" in this fic, which I do not take credit for.
> 
> Shout-out to the Unsaid Hair group chat for inspiring this fic. Yes, you read that right, our group chat is called Unsaid Hair. Fun fact - the conversation that led to that name also led to this fic. I hope you three read and enjoyed this because I know you were VERY confused when I said I was writing this fic.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> Paw  
> Find me on [Tumblr!](https://pawprinterfanfic.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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